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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

My Linux experience started with Redhat 7.0 about 15 months ago and I progressed through 7.3-8-9. Then I discovered Mandrake. I used Mandrake very happily for the best part of a year. I decided to obtain a bought version of Linux to contribute to "Linux". I would have gone with Mandrake 9.2, but it has problems. So I decided to give SuSE a go.
The install is painless enough and individual package selection is an option.
I chose KDE but Gnome and Windowmaker are also available. Once the system had booted into KDE I was presented with the expected icons and menus. I ran into a problem when I tried to run updatedb. slocate isn't installed or even part of the distro and it took me a while to discover that I needed a package called findutils-locate which I had to download and install myself. This is not a problem for me but someone new to Linux would have problems.
DVD support was problematic but was sorted by adding a few extra files.
My dial up connection was setup during the install process and there are also two drivers on the cd's for winmodems. I also had to download the nvidia drivers. There was an nvidia package listed amongst the online updates and it installed initially. A short while later for reasons beyond me the system crashed, completely locked solid and after I had rebooted the nvidia drivers stopped working. The 5328 (latest build) package from nvidia installed perfectly and 3d is restored.
On first impressions SuSE 9.0 Personal is very slick and well thought out. KDE defaults to the Keramic style with a new Window Decoration and the result is a desktop I have barely changed, as opposed to the heavy customisation required for other distro's default desktops.
From the point of view of a Windows user, this would make an excellent first Linux OS. It is close to the feel of XP without having sacrificed any of the usual Linux features.
My only complaint is that is doesnt support my WinTV Go card (the new cx88 chipset, not the old bt78 one).

Easy to install. Looks a lot like XP. Intuitive interface. Lots of programs.

Cons:

XMMS Did not come with a working output plugin.

SuSE 9.0 personal was very easy to install with absolutely no knowledge of Linux. The software set up my DSL connection then asked if I wanted to check for updates, took me to the SuSe site and downloaded some additional programs including the neat messaging system Kopete. Another plus the operating system recognized the full 160 GB hard drive without requiring the internal card I would have had to use with XP. I had about 100 G of MP3s that the program partioned around. These can be accessed as a separate directory but are "read only" so you can't delete those you don't want.

The output plugin on XMMS gave a bad distortion every 60 seconds. With thanks to Mary here at linux questions I switched to an esound plug in that works great. Main reason I put this together was to play MP3s so this was critical as I suspect it would be to anyone trying Linux as a substitute for XP. The program said support was included by my reply from SuSe was that they didn't support XMMS.

I find the KDE desktop to be very intuitive but my daughter a confirmed XP user didn't.

I would recommend SuSe for anyone who wants to have some fun giving Linux a try (and for saving a few bucks from the cost of XP). Even at the OEM price for XP home at FRY of $100 you are saving over $60 plus getting a working wordprocessor and spreadsheet.

The community of support for Linux turns out to be the best part of using SuSe.

SuSE 9.0 Personal was my first introduction to Linux, and I feel that quite possibly I should have gone with a different distro. SuSE support is the next thing to worthless - it is like an extended new car warrently; if the problem is not listed in their list of items that they will provide support on, they refuse support. And I have never found the answer to any problem I have had by looking in the 400+ page book that came with it. No DVD support. The Kde CD burning software will not allow multiple session burns; it closes the disk after one burn despite the fact that I select "multiple session". On the good side, I had no problems installing it (altho I had already made a linux partition with Partition Magic to avoid messing up my Windows stuff before I did the installation). It works fine with my Soundblaster PCI 128 audio card and my Radeon 9000 video card, and my modem is an external US Robotic unit that has worked fine (I am stuck with dialup), but the printer support is very poor in that the generic printer software does not work well with my HP Deskjet 970 and altho the initial installation went OK, it keeps getting messed up and I have yet to find a way to uninstall and reinstall the printer software reliably without having to do a complete reinstallation of the OS. Therefore, I have downloaded (and susequently purchased) BootIt which allows system backups of the various Linux partitioning schemes including ReiserFS used by SusE, so that I can get back to my last backup when the printer gets fouled up. In "talking" to people on various forums who have helped me out, I have had the growing feeling that perhaps Mandrake may be more user friendly for the first time user (but with no other experience, I don't know for sure).

I am using Firebird (now Firefox) and Thunderbird and they cannot communicate with each other, which is a strong argument for going with the Mozilla 1.4 (obsolete in December when I purchased the SuSE package, and now even more so with the release of version 1.6)

This experience has led me to the conclusion that Linux, in general, is just not ready for prime time; not because of any OS deficiencies, but rather because Linux is just not properly supported by either the software or hardware vendors yet.

The really positive thing about this experience has been the tremendous enthusiastic support I have received on various Linux forums.

This software is amazing. I started using Linux about a year ago when I needed to do some programing. I knew long time ago that LInux is the best choice for Software Developing.
The packages that it had is amazing choice for any user.
The installation ran very smooth. It detected all the hardware I had. The only problem I had is no nvidia 3d with the driver it installed. I had to do online update to get the driver to work properly, but that took only a couple of minutes.
Another amazing thing about Linux for those of you who don't know anything about it is:
YOU CAN ACCESS NTFS OR FAT32 Partitions with SUSE. it sets it up for you automatically.
The software packages allow you to get ANY kind of software you will need. It even has a guitar tuner if you need one :)

Just give it a try. I know not everyone will like it, but its worth a try.

Suse Linux 9.0 is the distribution for beginners, and people new to Linux, in my opinion. It bears the limitations that prove this, such as the in-ability to change menus without installing a newer version of KDE, and several others. But it is still great for people who are just getting started with Linux.

The icon set, window decorations and styles are wonderful. Some of the graphics inside it appear to be like Windows XP. It even has IceWM skinning support in Window Decorations.

It detected all of my hardware, and everything worked correctly. In particular, it worked perfectly with my Sound Blaster Live card, and played music and sounds.

A disappointing feature with Suse Linux 9.0 is the fact that it comes with KDE 3.1. When you update KDE, however, it removes some important features of Suse, such as hard drive icons on the desktop.

To conclude, Suse Linux 9.0 is a distro mainly for beginners in Linux and people who are just getting started in it. I do not recommend the Download Version, as you cannot install packages from the CD and other restrictions, so I do recommend buying it for however much it costs.

i really prefer the kde.. and it is really good about configuring loads of stuff.. i had a wacom tablet that took a few hours to get it to work in windows, booted in suse.. and it was done instantly, i was exstatic.